Thursday, November 4, 2010

Tell us about the Ithaca TrioContrary to popular belief, we are not a trio. In fact there is no "we". Ithaca Trio is a collective project, directed by myself and featuring some of the many wonderful artists I have had the privilege to meet. An Ithaca Trio 'live' set features anything from me playing solo, to about 9 'key-collaborators'. Its a mixture of improvised and edited recordings, I think our live and studio personas reach the two most extremes of this.

What prompted you to reach out to Rutger for a split?I have got to admit (though I don't think I've ever told him), but Rutger is one of my musical heroes of the last few years. Everything he puts out has always resonated with me really strongly, I genuinelybelieve he is the top of his game. So with that in mind, my initial note to him was like a ridiculously far-fetched pipe dream! I just thought, 'hey why not give it a shot...' And then here we are!

How did you become acquainted with Machinefabriek?I think I was first inducted to the Machinefabriek cult through Paul Elam (Fieldhead). He put Rutger on in the tiny basement of a pub in Leeds. Its an odd venue, a little grim, but Rutger played the most enthralling set with an Autoharp and a loop pedal. I was hooked straight away, and ran over and bought all I could find from him and Jumbo records in Leeds!